*I grew N. ventricosa outside for a season or so, but it took
*cold damage in the winter so this year I brought it back in.
*It was pitchering outside however, and actually did better
*than indoors under flourescents. Temps during the summer
*varied between 80-90 F, and the plant survived winter temps
*down to about 30 F. I have no idea what the humdity was,
*but it`s never that high around here. Night humdity was
*probably higher than day. My plant got direct sunlight for
*maybe 2-3 hours a day, and solid diffuse sunlight for perhaps
*another hour or two. Another grower I know grew the same
*species just two blocks from where I live, and his plant
*looked fantastic, but I don't know his growing conditions
*other than that they were outside. This plant has a nice
*waxy leaf which does well outside, along with N. fusca.
*I've grown a very small N. fusca outdoors this winter and
*it slowed down but continued growing and pitchering. On
*the other hand my N. khasiana, with more delicate leaves,
*seems to have suffered a bit from the colder temps.
*Robert
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Robert was making reference to my N. ventricosa, which produced numerous
pitchers in the summer and flowered after reaching about a foot or two high.
My conditions were more sunny than Robert's, but otherwise very similar. In
summer the plant got about 4-6 hr of direct sunlight with shade the balance of
the day. I bring the plant indoors in winter. It survived heavy frost (about
28-30 deg F) one year but was killed back almost to the ground and took much of
the following growing season to recover.
In the Palo Alto area of the peninsula south of San Francisco, typical
conditions are: Summer: day 75-90 deg F, RH approx 40-70%; night 50-65 deg F,
RH approx 70-90%. Winter: day 50-70 deg, night 35-50 deg. It seldom rains
during the summer, but we usually get dew each night. There are can extremes
of temperatures over 100 deg and below 30 deg, and RH can drop to below 20%.
This is my first message to the bulletin board. A little about who I am-- Over
the past 25 years I have grown representatives of most genera of CP, both
indoors in windows and under lights and outdoors. A big interest of mine is
working out ways for growing and displaying specimen plants to show off their
special qualities to best advantage. I designed a CP exhibit for a children's
museum in Palo Alto and started a permanent plant collection there. We've also
had an annual show and sale to help kids learn more about the plants. I
recently moved from Palo Alto to San Francisco, where I'm hoping to set up a
cool greenhouse.
Geoff